The common perception of God being taken out of public schools is inaccurate, said Pat Henderson, superintendent of the Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District.

Students still pray in public schools. They may read the Bible, wear religious T-shirts, join religious clubs and express their religious beliefs in homework and other school assignments.

“Public schools are not supposed to be religion-free zones, but neither are they supposed to be religious indoctrination centers,” Henderson said. “They are supposed to be neutral with regard to the religious beliefs of students.”

Even with that guiding knowledge, however, the right course of action is not always clear.

A teacher asks a student who is reading the Bible during a math lesson to stop. She doesn’t make a similar request when she observes a different student reading the Bible during recess. Some students see the teacher’s actions as unfair.

Students are allowed to read the Bible at school but under the proper circumstances, said Frenship Independent School District Superintendent David Vroonland.

“We talk about time, place and manner — which means proper time, place and manner,” he said.

Reading the Bible during instructional time in class wouldn’t be acceptable, he said.

As Henderson noted, if the student is assigned to read an essay about the Civil War in class, he won’t be allowed to read the Bible then.

Study periods and lunch periods are obviously appropriate times for Bible-reading, as are situations where teachers tell students they can read for the rest of a period, Henderson said.

Estacado High senior Jalen Moore said, “I read the Bible here and there when I have off-time in the classroom and have finished my work for the period.”

A student wants to lead a devotional group in school before classes start.

Students have the right to pray, to talk about religion to other students, to read the Bible — all during non-instructional time, said Henderson.

“If you go into the lunchroom and there are five students having a Bible study, that’s perfectly acceptable. They can also express their religious views in school assignments, if it meets the criteria of the assignment,” Henderson said.

Ann Manning, attorney for the Lubbock Independent School District, said the key is prayer or devotional groups are student-led. They can’t have interference from the government, she said.

Henderson said school employees have religious freedoms, too. They have the right to read the Bible during non-instructional time or pray during lunch or have a Bible study before school in the library individually or with other employees — but not with or in front of students, he said.

“It is not the public school’s job to get involved in the religious viewpoint of students. You aren’t supposed to endorse it or restrict it,” he said.

Moore said he has participated in Bible studies outside of school where students were invited at school.

“We usually spread it through school first because that was the easiest way.”

Moore said studying religion has helped him in school.

“I was in academic decathlon, and it helped me there. It also helped me in some of my English classes.”

Lubbock-Cooper senior Natalie Kitten said she thinks it is important for students to practice what they believe.

“As long as they aren’t disrupting class, I think it’s perfectly fine,” she said.

Prior to a football game, a student offers a Christian prayer over the loudspeaker. Several parents complain, arguing the school is endorsing one religion over all others.

Texas Tech School of Law professor Vaughn James said student prayers over loudspeakers can be, legally speaking, tricky.

“I would caution schools not to do that,” said the professor and Seventh-day Adventist pastor.

The trickiness is this: Districts must be extremely careful to avoid the appearance of religious favoritism.

This was highlighted in a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case involving the Santa Fe Independent School District’s policy of having a student leader offer a prayer before home varsity football games over the public address system.

In the case Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, justices held, “The District’s policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at football games violates the Establishment Clause.”

The violation came from the policy’s stated guidelines for student remarks and from a number of other factors, the court determined.

“Once the student speaker is selected and the message composed, the invocation is then delivered to a large audience assembled as part of a regularly scheduled, school-sponsored function conducted on school property,” justices determined. “The message is broadcast over the school’s public address system, which remains subject to the control of school officials.”

In addition, the opinion continues, the setting was one where school insignia were on display on the field and on uniforms. That backdrop could make it seem as though the district endorsed the school.

“Regardless of the listener’s support for, or objection to, the message, an objective Santa Fe High School student will unquestionably perceive the inevitable pregame prayer as stamped with her school’s seal of approval,” the opinion states.

The Lubbock-Cooper district allows loudspeaker prayers before football games under strict guidelines. The student delivering remarks is randomly selected from junior and senior student leaders and can choose whether to pray.

Stephanie Bauman, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said those guidelines seem within established parameters — “As long as it truly is an open forum where anything can be said and anything can come out,” she added. “I would just caution that in most cases it’s not really an open forum.”

During Christmastime, a student wants to distribute “Jesus is the reason for the season” cards to classmates. The teacher allows the distribution, but some parents feel the cards should not have been given.

Students have the right to pray, distribute or talk about religious beliefs, Vroonland said.

“They have a wide berth of religious freedom. Basically, you can not discriminate against a student or regulate their religious freedom,” Manning said.

The government cannot interfere with religion, and they cannot promote it, she said.

“I have discussed religion with friends at school, but it is not something they do on a regular basis. I am happy students have the freedom to do that,” said Kitten of Lubbock-Cooper.

When designing Christmas-themed decorations for the classroom, a teacher puts a manger scene on the bulletin board.

“The teacher should not put up a Nativity scene on a bulletin board because that would be the teacher influencing, and the teacher represents the government,” Manning said.

Because the teacher is hired by the government, the teacher is the government’s agent, she said.

A student making the expression would be a different matter, Henderson said.

If a teacher assigned an art project with a Christmas theme, a student would be allowed to depict a manger scene, just as the student could draw Santa Claus, a Christmas tree or any other holiday scene.

Henderson noted Christmas has a deeply religious meaning for some students and a more secular one for others. They would have the freedom of choosing their expression of how they see Christmas in such an assignment, he said.

“Students have great freedoms to practice their own sincere religious beliefs in a school setting without fear of governmental interference,” Manning said.

During class, a student asks a teacher, “Do you believe in God?” Fearing the appearance of endorsing a religious world view, the teacher decides against answering the question.

Bauman said she was unaware of a court case addressing this particular issue, but noted common sense should dictate the teacher’s response.

“I think it would be entirely appropriate to deflect a (religious) conversation started by a student,” Bauman said.

As a district employee performing a professional role, the teacher could be seen as advocating a particular religious view, no matter his or her response, Bauman noted.

Teachers may also want to be careful because they serve as role models for students, said Murray Coulter, president of the Board of Trustees at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Lubbock.

“Anything they say is going to have more impact than probably anybody else,” Coulter said.

A school’s dress and grooming policy states students cannot wear hats or head coverings, and male students’ hair cannot extend past their ears. One female student, a Muslim, objects to the policy because she wears a hijab, or head covering. Another student, a Native American, wears his hair long in accordance with his spiritual and ethnic roots.

“Generally, schools have the ability to regulate behavior that is considered to be a disruption of the school,” said Bauman.

However, parents can apply for an exemption if a district policy requires their student to violate a religious principle, Bauman added.

Without a compelling reason to enforce the rule for the offended student, schools must grant the exemption.

“It’s about how sincerely held the religious belief is,” Bauman said, noting a school may ask for proof of the espoused religion.

Some school districts, like Lubbock Independent School District, include information about religious exemptions in the student code of conduct.

LISD’s 2011-12 Student Code of Conduct states, “In order to exercise a religious tenet and/or national origin objection to the Board approved dress code, the parent or guardian must provide the principal with a written objection and proof.”

She noted a case involving a South Texas district in 2010. A Needville principal refused to grant an exemption for a Native American kindergartner who wore his hair long in accordance with his Lipan Apache tribe’s spiritual beliefs.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the boy’s right to wear his hair long, saying the school district’s policy “offends a sincere religious belief” and determining the rule “invalid under Texas law.”

A student wears a T-shirt reading, “Jesus saves” to school. The student passes numerous school officials, none of whom ask him to change his shirt.

“Students have the right of expression as it relates to prayer, wearing T-shirts, reading the Bible or homework. They have the right to do that,” Vroonland said.

A religious T-shirt would be banned only if it had a religious figure or other reference depicted as advocating violence, drug use or alcohol use, Henderson said.

“For school administrators to ban something, it has to create a substantial and material disruption of the school environment,” Henderson said.

In an assignment, a teacher asks students to write a poem about love; there is a recitation component where students recite the poem to the class. One student chooses to write and recite a poem about God’s love.

The student’s fulfillment of the assignment would be an appropriate fulfillment of the assignment and would be acceptable, Henderson said.

“As long as the student complies with the pedagogical requirements of the assignment, they can’t be restricted or censored if it has a religious theme to it,” Henderson said.

When they are complying with the requirements of the assignment, they could quote Jesus, Shakespeare, Confucius, their mother or their aunt if they wanted, he said.

“Kids can express their beliefs in homework or in speech and debate,” Vroonland said.

A school offers the Bible as a literature class. An agnostic student questions whether the class is legal since schools cannot endorse a religion.

When LISD added Bible classes to Lubbock, Monterey and Coronado high schools, the state mandate was to not base them on theology.

“The state guidelines for the class is that the Bible is the text, but the emphasis is the impact of the Bible on literature and history,” said Jinx White, who teaches the Bible class at Lubbock High.

The classes are non-denominational as well as non-theological, and they don’t get into doctrinal matters, he said.

“I have to preface a lot of what I say with, ‘If you have questions, ask your pastor or your parents,’ ” White said.

The Old Testament class is taught in the fall, and the New Testament class in the spring.

Students examine such things as concepts of law and government presented in the Bible and the influence of the Bible on such writers as Shakespeare, Milton and Dante, he said.

Before the classes began in the fall of 2010, the teachers attended in-service classes where they learned the state guidelines about how to teach them, White said.

Monterey High didn’t have enough students sign up for the course to offer it this year and there haven’t been enough students at Estacado High School for either year of the courses, said Misty Rieber, LISD social studies coordinator.

A student observes what he thinks may be his teacher’s violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. He feels uncomfortable expressing his concerns to the teacher and is unsure what steps to take to clarify or, if necessary, correct the situation.

Understanding established student rights and parameters for school officials is essential for students discerning whether an act is within the U.S. Constitution’s guidelines.

In a nutshell, courts have established the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allows students free exercise of their religion as long as it does not prevent the learning process.

As representatives of a government institution, teachers, principals, school officials and districts do not have that individual right to free exercise of religion. Districts must act within the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause, being careful to avoid singling out a particular religion — whether positively or negatively.

“Religion — it can’t be on different footing than everything else,” Bauman said. “You can’t treat it better; you can’t treat it worse.”

David Shelburne, executive director of Pray Lubbock, also underscored the importance of being knowledgeable. Sound legal advice and, for Christians, sound Christian advice are key for students who want to understand their rights, he said.

“We do also have local school officials who are afraid more than knowledgeable,” Shelburne said, noting it’s appropriate to approach such officials with knowledge and say what students’ rights are.

If a student believes a teacher or school district has operated outside legal parameters, there are options.

The student can approach the teacher or another school official to discuss concerns. Alternatively, he can ask a parent or guardian to speak on his behalf.

Bauman acknowledges speaking with a school official can be difficult for a student, particularly if he or she fears retaliation.

The student can approach a group like the American Civil Liberties Union or Americans United to report a suspected violation.

Bauman said the ACLU of Texas works to help people reach amicable resolutions with schools. The vast majority of cases, she added, are resolved outside of a courtroom.

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"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

Parents should be pleased with this response: " ‘If you have questions, ask your pastor or your parents,’ ” I taught 8th grade Earth Science one year because Geology was my all-time favorite class in college and we were short a science teacher. I loved it and the students seemed to enjoy it, too, except when we got to the paleontology section of the book, they began to ask questions about evolution. I have never seen a conflict between the study of evolution and the Bible, so I would tell them to discuss those issues with their parents or pastor.

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

I also thought it was a good article that presented the issues pretty well, choosing to take the middle road instead of going with the extremes I see and hear so much of the time.

I may have missed it, but the article doesn't really talk about bullying and religious expression. There has been a lot of focus on bullying in public schools, as there should be, but it still happens, and, around here, I would guess that expressing Christian beliefs is a lot safer than expressing other religious beliefs, or lack of religious beliefs.

Where are the area school districts on helping students learn to appreciate the great diverse population that makes up US, and Humanity?

My children were bullied for not being Christian in one area school district, and I've been told that such is fairly common by teachers and other parents.

Our youngest is going to Lubbock High, because it is known for it's tolerance of diversity.

It should be safe for All students to express their religious beliefs, in ways that do not impinge upon the rights of other students, without fear of retribution.

Talk about freedom of religion and speech - the AJ's hacking again. Please don't do that. I saw a great response and left to return later, and now it's gone. Shame on you. Anyone know who submitted it? I didn't notice one thing wrong with it.

I like the cut of your jib. Your lack of personal connections is a plus.

Please consider the illustrious career of minion upon your next employment search. Good men like you are needed. Please apply in person at H.R. on Mongo. Mention my name during the interview to be placed in a drawing for a very nice company windbreaker.

I could care less what my fellow students believe in as long as they do not force their religious beliefs on me. Likewise, I have an obligation to not force my religious beliefs on others unless we are in a discussion group about religion. The above article parallels my thoughts.